It’s a new day for Astros, let the fun and games begin!

It’s a new day for the Houston Astros. You can call it a new team, a new organization, a new direction, a new perspective. Indeed, it’s a new era, perhaps marking the biggest changes in the franchise’s history.

But — and I realize some will stop reading and start typing right here — Jim Crane deserves a clean slate.

If he is as sinister, conniving and conspiratorial as some suspect, obviously time will tell. I’m willing to provide the benefit of the doubt.

For now, all the offseason maneuvering, move to the AL debate, and backroom bargaining is coming to an end and giving way to the actual game itself. What a relief! Has it really been only three months since Crane took ownership, the move to the American League was stamped in stone and Ed Wade and Tal Smith were banished?

Crane has extended several olive branches along the way and others may be on the way. The heavy lifting — putting a winner on the field — still remains the biggest question and that’s one debate that will continue for the foreseeable future.

When will the Astros win again?

When will they contend again?

Will they lose another 100 games this season?

Will J.D. Martinez, Jimmy Paredes or Jose Altuve become All-Stars or contribute at all?

Who will the team draft with the No. 1 pick in June?

It’s a new day at for the Houston Astros, and those are some of the questions open for debate.

Some of the more than 60 Astros players will begin reporting to Kissimmee this week, and new GM Jeff Luhnow and manager Brad Mills have about six weeks to reduce that number to 25. They won’t be talking World Series or asking “what have you done to be a champion today?” But with the youth in camp, some first rounders from recent drafts learning the ropes and a new, fresh approach, there is plenty of reason for optimism.

Remember, it’s a new day for the Houston Astros, and optimism is always the operative word in spring training.